Archives: Film

Welcome to another new LOWDOWN, that part of the Production Office that brings you tips and tricks on all the tools you need to enhance your career as a filmmaker and creative.

Today, it’s Productivity.

Anyone who follows my blog will know I’m pretty hot on productivity. For far too long I spent my days being busy, but rarely productive. Since harnessing some of the tools I’m talking about today and putting some best practices of getting things done into place, I’ve become much more focused, much more productive and much more successful.

Let’s have a look, then, at some of the tools you can use to make your life easier.

EVERNOTE

Evernote comes at the top of the list today for two reasons: number one, it’s the tool I was most recently introduced to and two, it’s the tool I now find the most invaluable.

Evernote is a desktop and web-based app that you can also get for almost all smart phones.  It’s free to get started, but if you go over a certain storage limit you have to start paying.  That said, I’ve used it quite a lot and still not exceeded my free allowance.

What Evernote does is to collect together all those bits and pieces of things on the web that you want to take note of, as well as allowing you to compile your own To Do lists, projects and other notes.  It’s the simplest, cheapest and easiest way of keeping track of just about everything you need to remember. The Evernote logo isn’t an elephant for nothing.

THINGS

The second tool that works hard to keep you on time and on-topic is Things. The biggest down side? It’s Mac-only. So all you Windows dinosaurs can’t take advantage of it. You also have to pay around £30 for it, which puts it a step below Evernote to begin with.

Once you get past those elements, though, Things is brilliant for tracking To Do’s, project files, notes and reminders. Most usefully, though – and what helps to elevate Things to a point worth paying for – is it’s interaction and syncability1 with iCal and iPhone. If you use Apple’s MobileMe syncing solution to share your calendar across all your home computers, like I do, Things swaps and shares data seamlessly with not only all of your computers, but your phone as well. An invaluable way of keeping track of everything you need to know when you need to know it.

BASECAMP

There are numerous online project management tools that help you and all your collaborators to keep track of all the strands that make up your project, but the best one I’ve found (and used) is Basecamp.

Unlike other, equally useful online tools like Huddle, it’s Basecamp’s pricing structure that really makes it stand out. You pay a flat monthly fee from $24 (£15) and upwards that allows unlimited numbers of people to join your project and work on things with you. Huddle, by contrast, charges you per user per month, meaning a major film or creative project would quickly rack up sizable fees.

Basecamp2 is best used for sharing documents and keeping track of project timelines and goals in a way that everyone involved can see. Not only is that a great motivational tool – if everyone know what you should be doing, you’d better be doing it – but also a great way of making sure key things don’t get missed and that everyone knows the timeline their working to and the goals their aiming for.

There are hundreds of different tools of productivity for you to explore, but I’d suggest you limit yourself to trying one or two at a time, otherwise you risk undoing all their good work by spending all day getting to know them and setting them up as opposed to using them to help get your work done.

For more o productivity, keep an eye on my blog here, as well as checking out the99percent and lifehacker, my two online bibles of productivity tips and tools.

1. new word alert! [↩]
2. and, in fact, all online project management tools [↩]

This weekend, I caught up on the BBC’s awesome BTS doc on COME FLY WITH ME, the new series from LITTLE BRITAIN creators Matt Lucas and David Walliams.

One thought from an interview with Matt Lucas really struck me. Inevitably, there was a question about how you follow up a series as successful as LB was1. Lucas commented, on topping LB:

Can we do something as big as that? No. Can we do something better than that? Certainly.

And there’s the rub: whatever we’re setting out to create, the aim should never be about creating something bigger, simply creating something better.

Striving for size and reach will bring pressures and compromises; striving for quality will not only better ensure excellence, but also come with its own–much wider–rewards and may end up being both bigger and better.

1. and love it or hate it, you can’t deny its success [↩]

It doesn’t take a genius to work out the value of “Event TV”. Take last night’s Superbowl: people all over the world tuned in and felt compelled to take part in the chatter, bantering back-and-forth with friends, followers and random strangers.

In the age of the DVR1, VOD and online catch-up services2 more and more of us are watching our TV content time-shifted to suit ourselves. But if you want to be part of a conversation – if you want to experience the feedback as it happens – you need to be watching live.

The LOST finale is the obvious fictional TV reference3. Although it’s easily dismissed as a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence for fans of one particular show and thus something of an exception, it’s still worth noting that the LOST team had spent 6 years working up to this moment, carefully building their following and fanaticism to the point when it became not only “must-see TV” but “must-see-at-the-same-time-as-everyone-else TV”, the very definition of “event TV”.

Can we, as independent filmmakers and creators, produce the kind of content that is best experienced live and as it happens? Can we create “event” content?

The closest we have to it right now is probably The Production Office Live and Film Snobbery, shows that are available almost immediately after airing on the ‘net for anyone to view it at their leisure, but which the vast majority of the audience wants to see live so they can engage in the chat and discussion, whether on the website chat or via Twitter.  Even this, though, is factual content rather than fictional.

If they key to it is interaction and immediacy, is it possible – or even realistic – for us to create “event TV” in a fictional format? Or are we foolish to even aspire to such heights? Do the indie forms of distribution (VOD, digital download etc) inevitably mean it’s beyond our reach, or can we create content that will get people buzzing across platforms as they all watch our product together?

What do you think?

1. be it TiVo, Sky+ or whatever the dominant service in your area is [↩]
2. like the BBC’s iPlayer [↩]
3. just check out the spike in Twitter traffic as recorded here by the NY Post [↩]

This week’s most popular post on the blog was my Pick of the Web featuring Lucy V. Hay and Daniel Martin Eckhart‘s cross-talking posts on what it takes to succeed as a writer. You can read it here.

Today’s Sunday video for your viewing (and educational) pleasure it this fantastic piece by Turnstyle News on Lance Weiler‘s Pandemic 1.0 project that’s been running all week. Watch this video1 and learn how transmedia should be done. Spectacular; and makes me even more gutted that I wasn’t at Sundance this year to be able to participate.

1. you can also see it on Vimeo here [↩]

There are two great articles I want to highlight today, from two Twitter/LSWF buddies of mine.

Daniel Martin Eckhart writes on his blog about what it takes to make it as a screenwriter, his biggest insight (and no doubt point of debate) being:

The two most essential elements for a screenwriters are discipline and stamina. Talent is a distant third.

Daniel Martin Eckhart, Write, write, write.

Lucy V Hay, of Bang2Write fame, then goes a little further in her post, which references Daniel’s, talking about the paradox of the lucky/unlucky writer:

You’ll get no argument from when if you’re of the belief it’s TOTALLY about hard work, first and foremost; I think it’s important to recognise our own success as a writer will come as a direct result of that. However, I also think it’s important to realise it *could* have worked out very differently, despite our best efforts.

Lucy V Hay, write here, write now

What do you think? What makes a writer successful? Luck, timing, talent, hard work? All of the above?

Filmmaker and author of the seminal indie film bible THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX OFFICE, Jon Reiss, yesterday finished up his five part series of guest posts on his blog from Julie Eckersley about the success of the indie documentary THE SECRET, which has earned over $300million worldwide since its release in 2006.

The series is well worth taking the time to read and serves to back up, instill and reinforce all the lessons that Jon is constantly trying to drive into us through his TOTBO courses and book.

1. Start strong.
2. Tap into people’s passion.
3. Understand the power of your title.
4. Plan your marketing campaign from Day 1.
5. Align yourself with the key influencers in the area.
6. Alternative release and some very good news.
7. Shoot a promo first.
8. Cultivate your audience.
9. GIVE, GIVE, GIVE.
10. Define your brand.

Julie Eckersley, jonreiss.com/blog

Recently re-reading Robert Rodriguez‘s REBEL WITHOUT A CREW, the story of the making of EL MARIACHI and a filmmaking career, I came across this quote:

Low-budget movies put a wall in front of you and only creativity will allow you to figure out how to get around that wall. The less money and/or resources you have, the more you are forced to be creative.

And what is a movie anyway? A completely creative endeavour. Anything you can do to get away from the things that aren’t important, the better chance you have of being truly creative.

Robert Rodriguez, Rebel Without A Crew

Love him or hate him, we could all learn a little about creativity from Rodriguez.

Creativity isn’t about the money, the resources or the box office draw; it’s about telling the stories you want to tell in any way you can tell them, even if it’s not what you originally envisioned for them.

Exercise your creative muscles and get your project made, however you can. Finding your own way around that wall will harness the true power of your own creativity. And who knows, it may just unlock the doors to the studios.

Ben Craig, a Scottish director who made his short film MODERN TIMES for a budget of tea and sandwiches, has been taking some heat on his Vimeo page for the definition of “no budget” given the very nice Sony EX3 he shot it on and the studio space he used for a flick that’s now gathering some major buzz from Hollywood agents and execs1.

The truth is that Craig shot the entire film using equipment and a studio borrowed from a photographer when it was free at the weekends. He then set about doing all the visual effects himself, learning the software as he went.

The bitterness of the commenters is hard to fathom2. If we as filmmakers want to make the projects we’re passionate about, we need first to focus on building a contacts book of creative collaborators – a network of mutually beneficial relationships.

By asking first “What can I do for them,” before “What can they do for me,” we can not only start relationships on a positive footing, but also potentially open doors to exciting opportunities that will never come the way of those filmmakers who spend their time bemoaning the fact that they don’t have the resources that people like Ben Craig or Gareth Edwards3 had.

Sometimes selflessness and generosity is the best way of being selfish and getting what you want. I guess that’s what they call Karma.

1. as per yesterday’s Hollywood Reporter blog piece here [↩]
2. although sadly all too common [↩]
3. the director of the similarly home-made (effects-wise) MONSTERS [↩]

Last summer I did a stint making short videos for THE PRODUCTION OFFICE LIVE. The show is presented and produced by my friend, author, filmmaker and blogger, Chris Jones. Its mix of interviews with genuinely valuable insight and lively studio chatter, saw it quickly become a favourite among indie filmmakers across the world1.

Chris and his producing partners have recently launched a crowdfunding campaign for the second season of the show to give them enough capital to run the show professionally. Take a look at their IndieGoGo page to find out more (and back them if you can).

The campaign itself has one key element that too many filmmakers2 miss: “perks” or “rewards” that backers genuinely want3 at minimal cost to the production.

Too often crowdfunders come up with lists of brilliant bonuses, but if you’re giving away a $40 T-shirt to people who back you to the tune of $50 it doesn’t take a genius to tell you’re not going to raise the amount you need to make your show. Some would argue even a $10 T-shirt on a $50 pledge is too much of a chunk to give away.

What Chris & Co have done is to come up with a crowdfunding model whereby they offer great value to contributors at little cost to themselves. That is the ultimate lesson in crowdfunding best practice not only because it gives the show the best fundraising model, but also because as a backer you know you’re money is going to help your favourite show get made, not to produce the rewards you’ll receive for putting your hard-earned in.

Well done to Chris, Judy, David and Gemma for creating a great campaign for a great show. I can’t wait for the new season4.

1. literally, with viewers in the US, Germany and Australia among other places [↩]
2. and crowdfunders of other art forms [↩]
3. such as a credit on the show, a visit to the studio, a VIP pass to the always-awesome wrap party [↩]
4. which will also, incidentally, be featuring the return of the LOWDOWN from yours truly [↩]